Elizabeth Key Grinstead: First Woman of African Descent to Sue For Freedom From Slavery

Elizabeth Key Grinstead was the 1st woman of African ancestry in the colonies to sue for freedom from slavery & win. She won her & her son’s freedom on July 21, 1656 in the colony of Virginia. She sued based on the fact that her father was an Englishman & that she was a baptized Christian. The lawsuit in 1655 was one of the earliest “freedom suits” by a person of African ancestry in the English colonies. Read more at http://thenewagenda.net/2011/02/10/three-stories-of-black-women-from-american-history/